![]() ![]() In that period, scientific terms and concepts were not as numerous as today, where each research field has its very specific terminology that is unfamiliar to those who have not studied the field in depth. Most scientists were multidisciplinary, meaning they were deeply knowledgeable in a number of research fields simultaneously, and often without the distinction common today between exact sciences, humanities, and philosophy. The main reason for this is that during that period, modern science itself, which was still in its infancy, was much more general and much less focused than it is today. They were also generally intended to reach beyond the scientific community to the general public, at least to the educated within it. In the early days, articles were typically shorter than what is accepted today. Brief articles made it possible to publish research findings in a straightforward way, reaching a wide audience rapidly. At that time, findings were often shared via personal letters, lectures at academic institutions, or books. ![]() Published articles began to emerge alongside the beginning of the scientific revolution in the 16th century. The scientific article is by no means a recent or novel medium for communicating scientific findings. Let’s take a few steps back and explore how we reached this point. Good peer review even influences the research funding received | Illustration: Cartoon Resource, ShutterstockĪ Brief History Of The Scientific Article Many of them also undertake the voluntary task of reviewing their peer’s articles before publication (peer review), often at the expense of the time that they could have otherwise dedicated to their own research initiatives In addition, scientists find themselves compelled to devote an exorbitant amount of time to keeping up with the ever-expanding pool of published articles within their respective fields of research. Consequently, it comes as no surprise that the surge in the number of publications has been accompanied by a decline in their average quality: when a scientist writes five-six small articles simultaneously at any given time, it is reasonable to assume that the level of novelty, accuracy, and contribution to scientific knowledge within each one of them is compromised, compared to a scenario where the scientist focuses all their energy on producing a single, significant article. For example, one study found that the number of scientific journals worldwide increased from around 60,000 in the year 1950, to a staggering one million by the year 2000. This situation has resulted in an extraordinary surge in the number of scientific articles published in scientific journals across all research fields in recent decades. ![]() This phenomenon has become so pervasive that it has acquired its own nickname: “Publish or Perish”. Hence, researchers across all research fields face constant pressure to publish an ever-increasing number of articles. Research institutions employ complex equations to evaluate the quality of every scientist, taking into consideration factors such as the number of publications, the prestige of the publishing journal, the number of citations by other researchers, and other similar metrics. The articles that get published impact their prospects of securing an academic position, dictate the pace of their progress toward receiving tenure or achieving professorial status within their respective institutions, and significantly affect their chances of obtaining research funding. Scientists today are assessed largely by the number of their contributions to scientific journals. The Pressure to PublishĪn article published in the monthly American newsletter “Atlantic” focused on the central issue highlighted by the cartoon. Beyond the comedic value of the caricature, its creator has touched upon one of the most pressing concerns of contemporary science - the gap between the sheer number of published scientific articles and their overall quality, driven by researchers' relentless race to increase their publication count for the purpose of career advancement. ![]()
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